UK-based CS Labels has announced details of its latest equipment acquisition: a Canon imagePROGRAF iPF 6450 large format printer. The machine has been added to provide colour accurate proofs for the company’s suite of Xeikon label printing presses and was purchased from and installed by Canon reseller M Partners Wide.
The new printer replaces an ageing Epson device. The Canon imagePROGRAF iPF 6450 provides up to twelve colour printing with a media width of 24 inches, and has been purchased complete with built-in spectrophotometer for a total colour matching solution.
Commenting on the purchase, Neil Churchill, Studio Manager at CS Labels, said: “When the Epson finally broke down, we took the opportunity to look at the proofing market to see which machine we should replace it with. Having read good reports of the Canon products, we requested prints from some of our sample files. The results were outstanding. The colour quality from Canon was extremely impressive.”
CS Labels brought in M Partners Wide, the Canon reseller, for further discussions. “We were very impressed with their attitude and with what they had to say. They were able to install the product on an extended trial for us in order for us to test our various file formats and job types on the machine. It passed all of our tests.
“The M Partners Wide experts were able to produce profiles for us so that we could match the output from our Xeikon machines exactly – in fact they provided a range of profiles to work with the different stocks that we print on. At one time we would have proofed very colour critical jobs on the Xeikon label printer, but that is expensive, both in terms of machine time and substrates. Now it is a faster and 100% accurate solution to proof the work on the Canon,” explained Neil.
Neil was also impressed by the support provided by M Partners: “They use a remote log-in to call up our system and fix any software issues – we are back an running again in minutes. M Partners have been very responsive on the few occasions that we have needed their support and advice – it’s so much better to deal with a company where you can speak to individuals, and you know that they are UK based.”
Adding his thoughts with regard to Canon’s offering, Simon Smith, Managing Director of CS Labels, commented: “Neil was impressed by the quality, and that is important for our business. I was also very taken with Canon’s ability to provide machine-to-machine colour accuracy. It means that we could place a printer into a customer site and send them files to print out with total confidence.”
Commenting on behalf of M Partners Wide, Murray Lock, joint managing director, said: “I have known Simon and the CS Labels team for some time, so was aware of their needs for quality colour and an effective solution. I am delighted that M Partners Wide was able to provide the right hardware and back-up support package. The Canon colour quality is being recognised by an ever increasing audience – I am convinced that they have established a new bench-mark for large format colour.”